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Heated Pool in Minecraft

Introduction: Heated Pool in Minecraft

About: I love hacking things about and improving the design (or just bending it to my will!)
I'm a locksmith, and I make a lot of my own tools. Those won't be published here, though!
My first instructable is ...
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For the Minecraft competition, my little helper (she's 4, and obsessed with Minecraft!) and I built a lovely pool. Unlike most of the pools you'll see about the place, this one is heated for your comfort. Underfloor heating and a warm sandy location makes this a place to relax year around, there's mood lighting, a changing room, and an "interesting" diving board. Paddling and a fountain make this ideal for the kids, too!

Step 1: Getting Started: Location, Location, Location!

We had just come back from the Nether, and on our way back to the train station across the desert, we were getting thirsty and needed a rest. So why not build a mini holiday resort?

I suggest you get a diamond shovel, and at least a few buckets. You can create an "infinite water source" with two buckets of water, but you can't do that with lava, so you'll want a lave pool nearby, or a Nether portal. (Or you can wimp out and work in Creative. My helper is, but then, she is only just 4.)

Step 2: First, an (infinite) Water Supply

First, make a hole as shown, two by two.

Tip the first bucket in one corner, then the second bucket in the opposite corner. After a few moments the water will stop swirling, and bingo. Infinite water!

You can now either re-fill your buckets, or, more likely, you'll need to go fill them with lava.

Step 3: Dig Up Some Sand

Dig up some sand. Using the shovel is by far the fastest way. Unless a creeper sneaks up on you, of course!

Decide now how big you want to go. This one is fairly small scale, but you can go wild.

Get digging until you have whatever shape you want. Now dig it out two layers deeper. Remember not to get stuck!

Keep the sand for the next steps.

Step 4: Furnace Time

Now pop down a furnace. Add some coal, or, if you've lots of lava, you can charge it with lava, which lasts for ages.

Add a load of sand. This will get turned to glass, but it takes a while, so leave it to work, and we will come back for the XP and glass in a bit.

Step 5: Add the Heat Source

This is the dangerous part. Pour your lava out into the bottom of the pool. Work carefully, as a shot from behind by a skelly could easily be fatal when you land in that lava pit-o'-doom you've started.

To make things a bit safer, I grabbed a few blocks of glass first, and once the lava was in place I put the glass over the top before going to refill my buckets. Thinking about it, working during daylight might have been safer!

It's worth noting that a silk touch pickaxe makes life easier here, as it means you don't waste any glass blocks if you mis-place one. The Silk Touch enchantment means that the block doesn't break like it normally would, and is very useful for some things. The downside? You won't get XP from mining with it, because you get a block of (say) coal ore, and not coal!

Step 6: Add Water

Ok, now the lava is safely trapped under our glass bottom pool, we can fill it with water.

Go to your handy infinite water source we did earlier, and fill her up!

I left a nice underfloor heating bit. DD got a bit carried away and walled one side of the pool with cauldrons!

Step 7: Pretty It Up

Add some nice decor.

Guess who went wild with the pink wool? To be fair, she also invented these nifty armchairs. Just place a set of steps, then add a sign to both sides. You can also add a slab to turn it into a sun lounger.

She also built this lovely poolside bar (something she has never seen in real life!) with a little trapdoor for the bar keep's access. The two doors on the end are for a changing area, just needs a bit more wall in that shot.

And now the bar is open!

Oh look, who's that in photo 7? Come for a cool one by a warn pool!

Step 8: Extend As You See Fit

I then added a nice kiddy's play and paddling area.

Step 9: Finished!

Here's the resulting pool. Hopefully the slightly large animated GIF will work!

(Edit: Nope, no GIF for you! There's no good way to put a 1.7Mb 5 frame animated GIF on the internet. :~( I guess it just isn't 1994 any more.)

A great place to hang out after a hard day monster hunting or mining.

Thanks for looking, and don't forget to vote if you liked it.

Step 10: ...or Is It?

Being minecraft, we can add silly and utterly deadly traps if we want.

Here's a Netherwrack diving board.

Use a bit of sand to support the steps so you can put them in the right place. I used Nether brick steps, as I did with the sun loungers. Just don't use wood! (You'll see why in a moment!)

(If you don't know how to make steps, look at the screenshot. Basically put your bricks in a stair shape. To make Nether bricks, either dig up a Nether Fortress, or throw some Netherwrack into your furnace to turn it into Nether bricks.)

So, why is the top crudely made from Netherwrack?

Step 11: Rule 0: Don't Be on Fire

Well, it turns out that Netherwrack burns forever. Just light it and leave.

Told you it was a silly diving board!Run up, get set on fire, jump into the pool below. :-D